Linguistic prejudice and stereotypes

Language fulfills multiple purposes and can be understood at the intra-individual, inter-personal, inter-group and ideological levels of analysis. Depending on the level of analysis, language can be shown to shape intra-individual thought and memory processes, to guide communicative and interpretive processes during inter-personal encounters, to create own-group shared representations of reality and to justify or challenge status relations between social groups. Using a social psychological approach, this article focuses on the linguistic and communication processes which characterize inter-group relations.